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Just a few months ago it seemed all but certain that Michael Ilitch was going to buy the Detroit Pistons from Karen Davidson, who inherited the team from her husband William after he passed away in March 2009. Ilitch, a member of the Forbes Rich List who is worth $1.7 billion and already owns Detroit's Red Wings (NHL) and Tigers (MLB), is the logical buyer for the NBA team. Not only does he have the cash, but it would make it more economical in the future for him to get a new arena that he could share with his NHL franchise and, as the only owner of three teams in the four major leagues in one market, start a regional sports network (or use the threat of one to extract higher television fees). But we haven't heard a peep in in weeks. What happened? According to one person familiar with the negotiations, after agreeing to a price in excess of $400 million (my source was not more specific), Ilitch discovered the revenues presented in the prospectus were inflated. Ilitch, one of the great gentleman owners in sports, got pissed, lowered his offer price and the deal quickly blew up. I hope to find out more about the actual price in the near future. But from what I am hearing it will now be hard for Davidson to get $400 million for the team given the Ilitch debacle and dismal state of Detroit's economy.